Bearings are a commonly used mechanical element for supporting rotational movement of mechanical parts, such as shaft. The bearings have a limited service life and have to be replaced when worn out. However, since bearings are usually press-fit into and tightly secured within bearing seats, which may assume the form of a hole, it requires a great effort or special tools for removing the bearings out of the bearing seat. Such a situation is shown, as an example, in FIGS. 17 and 18 of the attached drawings. In FIG. 17, a bearing 8 is shown mounted within a bearing seat or hole 9 and is to be removed while in FIG. 18, only the outer race member 82 of the bearing 8 is left within the hole 9 which may be resulted from improper attempt to remove the bearing 8 out of the bearing seat 9 or any other damage to the bearing 8.
One conventional manner to remove a bearing 8 or the outer race member 82 thereof out of the bearing seat 9 is done by welding a bar or an elongated member (not shown) to the bearing 8 or the outer race member 82 to provide the operator with a handle for easy application of pulling force to move the bearing 8 or the outer race member 82 out of the hole 9.
Another conventional manner for removing the bearing 8 is using a bearing removing device. In FIG. 19, a conventional bearing removing device 7 is shown, which comprises three paw members 711 formed on rotatable arms 71. The arms 71 are initially positioned close to each to allow the paw members 711 to pass through the bearing hole 810 and are then controlled by a conic member 72 to rotate in such a manner to have the paw members 711 moved outward to engage one side of the bearing 8. By the engagement between the paw members 711 and the bearing 8, application of force to the bearing removing device 7 moves the bearing 8 out of the hole 9.
A disadvantage associated with such a conventional bearing removing device 7 is that there may be only a limited spacing left between the one side of the bearing that is to be engaged by the paw members 711 and the bearing seat 9, such as the spacing 91 shown in FIGS. 17 and 18. If spacing 91 is not large enough to receive the paw members 711 to be located behind the bearing 8, the conventional bearing removing device 7 will be totally useless in removing the bearing 8 out of the hole 9.
Furthermore, the arms 71 of the conventional bearing removing device 7 are usually subject to great moment acting thereon for there is a distance between the conic member 72 that applies a force to rotate the arms 71 outward and the contact engagement between the paw members 711 and the bearing 8 and such a distance together with the reaction force of the bearing 8 acting upon the paw members 711 results in a moment acting upon the arms 71. This causes the conventional bearing removing device 7 very easy to be damaged.
It is therefore desirable to provide a bearing removing device which overcomes the drawbacks of the conventional device.